A Woman's Worth
by Juniper11
Summary: It didn't matter where she went for some reason the men seemed to think she couldn't take care of herself. Maybe it was the pink hair... *Blue Series 4*


The minute they landed in the hanger of the Watchtower he immediately set out after Sakura. She walked out swiftly ahead of him and he followed behind her determined to figure out what was wrong. He called her name but she didn't respond so frustrated he moved swiftly, grabbed her, and brought her into a room where they could speak quietly.

He expected her to relax a bit and tell him what was on her mind but that wasn't the case. Instead, she stared at him with barely masked hostility, as if he were the one with the problem and she was waiting on him to speak first. When he said nothing, only waited, she made a move to leave but he wasn't willing to let her go.

"Sakura, talk to me."

A small part of him wished he hadn't said the words since she whirled on him her eyes full of fire and vengeance. A lesser man would have headed for the hills but he was Superman.

They had just come back from taking on Solomon Grundy. It had been a successful mission with few injured and even those hadn't been serious injuries. However for some reason unknown to him Sakura wouldn't talk to him on the way back to the Watchtower. Any attempt at conversation was met with cold stares and stony silence.

He decided to wait until he could pull her aside in private because with the rest of the team there it was doing nothing but making a scene. And Bruce's smirk was doing nothing but irritate him.

"I can take care of myself Superman."

"Of course you can." He agreed automatically which was apparently the wrong thing to do.

"Then why is it that whenever I'm invited to join the Justice League in fighting one of your enemies you always throw yourself in between me and danger?"

Superman opened his mouth to respond to that but could find no answer so instead he settled for looking sheepish. In actuality he hadn't realized he had been doing it. But now that she mentioned it he knew very well that he had been. What he didn't understand was why. He helped the members of his team as needed but he never gave any threat that came Sakura's way a chance.

"I received training from one of the greatest ninja in my village. People say one day I will surpass her. I can topple buildings with the flick of a _finger_. There was a lot of blood, sweat, and tears involved in my training so that I would be able to handle any situation that I was put in. I don't _need_ you to protect me. I know my worth to the team. If I couldn't handle it, I wouldn't have gone in the first place." She took a deep breath and finished with, "And more than anything else I am not her."

"Not...who?"

"Don't act like you're not intelligent Superman. You know exactly who I'm talking about."

"Sakura."

She didn't respond but instead left to find a quiet place in the watchtower that was absent of men in blue spandex.

:::

John Stewart chanced upon Superman staring into space shortly after Sakura had left. _ Everyone_ knew that the two were going to fight as soon as they reached the Watchtower. It was written all over Sakura's face and the sad thing about the whole thing was that Superman hadn't a clue what he had done.

He knew the man needed to talk to someone only he was afraid he was the only one who had a clue what the man was feeling. So it was going to have to be him or eventually Sakura was going to find out about Kryptonite and try to take the man out if he continued on this route.

He had to call him three times before he answered.

"Woman troubles?" GL inquired and Superman said, "I was just trying to protect her. What is there to be so angry about?" He patted Superman on the back and led him to a table where the two of them could sit and talk. He followed without complaint which let him know just how confused he was. It was a rare moment to see Superman thus...and it was kind of amusing that a mere slip of a girl could do it to him.

"Did you try to protect Diana?"

"No." There was no hesitation in his answer.

"What about Shayera?" And there was absolutely no hesitation in that one.

"No."

"Then why would you try to protect Sakura? Because it can't be because she can't protect herself. I've seen that girl fight and she can hold her own."

Superman didn't answer and GL sighed. "Look, Superman, Sakura is a strong woman. You don't have to protect her the way you protected Lois." It didn't take him long to connect the dots.

"I'm not confusing Sakura with Lois."

"I disagree. Your actions speak a lot louder than your words."

"Regardless, I don't see the problem with protecting her. He was about to-"

"It's disrespectful. You wouldn't do that to Diana or Shayera. You're only doing it to Sakura because she's your woman."

"We're not like that, John." Green Lantern raised an incredulous brow. "We're not." He insisted.

"Then I shouldn't have told Flash that she was off limits then? I'll just go correct mysel-" John had barely even stood before Superman's hand grabbed his shoulder holding him still. John schooled his face so that nothing he was thinking showed upon it. A myriad of emotions flashed across Superman's face before he finally let go. They stood in silence for several minutes staring at each other before John finally broke and said, "When Shayera and I were together I tried to protect her from danger once. _Once_. She kicked my ass." He paused and waited for his words to sink in. "She must care for you quite a bit to not lay a single hand on your for your actions. You should think about that and what it means."

:::

The first person she ran into was Batman. She was about to snarl at him but he interrupted her would be sneer with a question.

"Want to spar?"

Sakura blinked surprised yet pleased at the notion of violence for no reason. She then gestured for him to lead the way. Instead, he side stepped to enable them to move side by side. She knew it wasn't because he thought of her as an equal. No Batman, she was learning, was a lot more complex than that. She figured he didn't want her at his back. That would imply trust, but she really wasn't in the mood to care about his thinly veiled insults.

It took entirely too long for them to reach their sparring room as she really just wanted to beat someone down.

"No chakra. No gadgets."

Sakura nodded her head and slipped on her gloves as was her custom. Batman didn't attack her immediately. She didn't expect him to. He was the type of man to wait for his opponents first move. If she tried to out wait him they'd be there for three days. So she ran directly for him and threw the first punch. He blocked her with ease so she quickly dropped to the ground to make an effort to sweep his legs from beneath him but he had already jumped backwards putting space between them.

She merely smiled at his actions knowing that it wouldn't be that easy to get the jump on the Justice League's Batman. The other League members told stories of him. It was like he was some sort of living legend. There was almost the same reverence for him as it was for Sup-

Just thinking his so called named only served to fuel her anger more so she attacked Batman with a precision that only fine tuned rage could offer.

Batman definitely beat her but that was only because half-way through the fight it became less about anger and more about the fun she was suddenly having fighting the Dark Knight. She could honestly say she held her own against him for quite a while.

She was smiling but that smile was soon wiped off her face once Batman began questioning her.

"Are you going back to your world?" She wondered where that question came from. More than anything she wondered why Batman was asking personal questions.

"Of course." Sakura replied immediately. No other option was available to her. Despite her love life that left much to me desired, she loved Konoha.

"Why?"

"Because I love my village not to mention I have a duty to return. I could never abandon it. My teacher once told me that ninja who break the rules are trash, but ninja that abandon their teammates are worse than trash. It would hurt too many people if I just walked away from everything for a world I really know nothing about. I belong in Konoha. I have to go home."

Batman stared at her for a while and she wondered what was going through his mind. She didn't ask because something about him reminded her slightly of Sasuke and she knew that if he wanted her to know what he was thinking then he'd tell her.

"Superman has a lot of responsibilities." Sakura stiffened. "It's important that he remember where his loyalties lie. So be sure that when you go home you leave his heart here with us."

He walked out then leaving Sakura to wonder what the hell he was talking about.


End file.
